Yun Li: "You can decide..."
"If I didn't already have someone in mind, I would've paired Fu Shize with me." He Jiameng wore an expression of deep regret, then looked at Yun Li with incomprehension. "You've seen him too."
"At the very least, Fu Shize is good-looking. Wouldn't you feel happier fetching lunch boxes every day with that face around?" She feigned exasperation and sighed heavily.
After finishing her instructions, He Jiameng returned to her office.
Yun Li flipped through the documents at her workstation—mostly product manuals. She finished quickly and soon found herself with nothing to do.
After sitting at her desk for an hour, Yun Li had scrolled through all the trending news and even the clickbait articles, yet no one else had arrived.
Just as she was about to die of boredom, Fang Yuning notified her via phone to assist with equipment repairs at the EAW experience center, where engineers would be present. This wasn't part of her department's duties—likely Fang Yuning had no immediate tasks for her and had loaned her out.
As He Jiameng had said, she might just end up doing odd jobs everywhere.
The EAW experience center was closed that morning. Peering through the glass doors, Yun Li saw only darkness inside, with tiny dust particles floating in narrow beams of light.
Swiping in with the employee card He Jiameng had given her, Yun Li checked the circuit breaker box by the entrance and found all switches already on—the engineers must already be inside.
The venue was eerily silent. For some reason, she found herself treading lightly.
After circling the first floor, she heard the sound of something heavy being dragged across the floor near a corner room. Someone was clearly working inside.
Yun Li knocked and said politely, "Hello, I'm the new intern. Sister Yuning sent me to assist with the equipment repairs."
No one answered the door, but the sounds of tools clinking and moving continued inside.
Yun Li felt ignored.
The person inside seemed deliberate, the dragging noises growing louder.
Knocking again felt like challenging them to a confrontation.
As she hesitated over whether to persist—
"Come in."
Yun Li pushed the door open. The room was dimly lit by a single beige lamp, the air dry and thick with the scent of wood and plastic glue. A figure crouched in the corner, sleeves half-rolled up, rummaging through a toolbox. He picked up a screwdriver, examined it, then tossed it aside carelessly.
"Joined EAW?" Fu Shize's voice was quiet but echoed in the enclosed space.
In a professional setting, Yun Li switched to formal address, replying respectfully, "Yes, thank you for your advice last time."
Before coming, Yun Li had imagined many scenarios of meeting Fu Shize again. After much deliberation, she brought up being rejected by the technical department.
"I was transferred to HR—it doesn't match my major, and my personality is..." She felt like she was laying herself bare. "Somewhat socially anxious..."
Fu Shize paused, looking up. The beige light cast shadows across his face as he seemed to doubt her words. "Is that so?"
The question caught Yun Li off guard. "D-do I not seem like it?"
Fu Shize studied her for a long moment, as if genuinely considering her question.This demeanor made Yun Li suspect he might be recalling the time she had taken the initiative to ask for his contact information. Originally, she had wanted to seek some career advice from Fu Shize, but now she just hoped this topic would end quickly.
"Yu Ning asked me to come help you fix things," Yun Li said, trotting over to his side in an attempt to change the subject. Only then did she notice a croissant in a frosted bag and a cup of coffee on the floor.
Since she wasn’t skilled at repairs, Yun Li felt a bit nervous.
"Is there anything I can help with?" She glanced at the breakfast on the floor. "Your breakfast has gone cold. You should eat first."
From Yun Li’s perspective, Fu Shize was dressed in a simple blue work uniform, with large yellow electrician gloves covering most of his hands.
"It’s fine." Fu Shize didn’t let her intervene, placing two light bulbs into his pocket before climbing up the ladder.
The ladder didn’t look very stable. Even someone of Fu Shize’s build caused loud creaking sounds as he ascended. Instinctively, Yun Li held onto both sides of the ladder to steady it.
Fu Shize was replacing two ceiling spotlights. He gripped the outer edge of the bulbs, unscrewed them, and placed them in his pocket. Soon, he had the new bulbs installed.
After descending the ladder, he tossed the gloves aside and went to the entrance to turn on the spotlights. The previously dim ceiling brightened considerably.
Standing at the entrance, Fu Shize noticed Yun Li was still holding the ladder from a distance and reminded her, "There’s no one on the ladder now."
Yun Li froze, then awkwardly let go.
Fu Shize picked up the paper bag from the floor, quickly unwrapped it, and took a bite of the bread. He took a couple of steps forward to inspect the other spotlights.
"I’ll check them. You should finish your breakfast," Yun Li said softly. Fu Shize paused mid-step and turned to look at her.
Had she said something wrong? Or was there something on her face? Several thoughts raced through Yun Li’s mind. Seeing that Fu Shize hadn’t moved, she nervously added, "You’ve worked hard all morning. I can handle the rest."
Unexpectedly, Fu Shize simply took another bite of his bread and mimicked her tone, "No need for your help."
"..."
Yun Li quickly adjusted her approach: "Then you should eat your breakfast first..."
The rest of the lighting equipment was mostly fine. Yun Li noted down the minor issues on a piece of paper while Fu Shize slowly followed behind her.
His presence behind her added waves of pressure. Trying to stay composed, she hesitantly asked, "Is there anything else we need to do today?"
Fu Shize gave a noncommittal hum, paused for a moment, and then asked her, "What do you want to do?"
Yun Li’s hand stilled.
What kind of question was that—what could she possibly want to do??
Shouldn’t he be the one deciding?!
Fortunately, Fu Shize finished his breakfast and didn’t dwell on her response. He told her the remaining task for the morning was to test all the other gaming equipment in the venue.
Relieved that it was something she could handle, Yun Li let out a quiet sigh.
Compared to her first visit, EAW had added several classic movie-themed venues and some street-style entertainment activities, such as expression mimicry raffles and blind box games. Still unfamiliar with the layout, Yun Li clutched her folder and trailed behind Fu Shize. After testing each device, she marked the corresponding checkbox on the inspection list.The remaining tasks were divided between the two of them, with Yun Li assigned to test the expression-mimicking lottery machine. This machine utilized facial expression recognition technology. The screen would prompt players to mimic a specific emotion, and the camera would record and analyze their expressions. The higher the matching score, the better the prize.
Yun Li had never used this machine before and wasn’t sure how accurate it really was.
She sat in front of the machine, her face appearing on the screen. The top-left corner displayed color-coded bars indicating scores for different emotions, along with a total score.
She clicked "Start Game," and the screen prompted: "Overjoyed."
Yun Li gave a faint smile. A yellow rectangle framed her face on the screen, followed by flashy ad-font displaying her total score—20 points.
This… was way too hard, wasn’t it?
She clicked "Try Again." As soon as the yellow frame appeared, she exaggeratedly raised her eyebrows, widened her eyes, and grinned so broadly that even her zygomatic muscles were clearly visible.
The screen popped up with several opened gift boxes—100 points. "You surpassed 99% of players."
Way too over-the-top.
For people who weren’t naturally expressive, this game wasn’t very friendly.
After checking the corresponding box, Yun Li was about to shut down the machine when another thought suddenly crossed her mind.
The moment it formed, she felt it might be a bit too much.
Coincidentally, Fu Shize had finished his tests and came over to her side.
Yun Li took a step back, lowering the folder to her thigh.
"This machine seems a bit off. The detection isn’t very accurate," she said while observing Fu Shize’s reaction.
She… wasn’t exactly lying, right?
The machine really wasn’t that precise—she had to make such exaggerated expressions just to score high.
Having convinced herself, Yun Li felt a faint anticipation, waiting to see how Fu Shize would respond.
"It’s always been like this," Fu Shize replied indifferently, yawning before tapping the screen.
A prompt appeared: "Ecstatic."
Fu Shize’s face, centered on the screen, looked gloomy and tense. His rigid jawline finally relaxed slightly, as if he were struggling to force a smile.
A purplish-gray box appeared on the screen.
The scores for "Anger" and "Sadness" in the top-left corner suddenly shot up.
—10 points. "You surpassed 5% of players."
So it was actually pretty accurate.
Yun Li thought to herself. But Fu Shize showed no intention of forcing a smile for a higher score, and her little scheme fell flat.
"Inaccurate," Fu Shize muttered, walking straight to the side and marking a big "×" on the inspection form. He snapped the pen cap shut and slipped it into his chest pocket.
Yun Li quickly tried to console him with a smile, "It’s just that the machine isn’t working right. We can ask the manufacturer to fix it."
At that moment, the camera happened to capture her face.
Her score instantly jumped from 10 to 100.
"……"
It was like telling your friend who just failed an exam, "Don’t worry, everyone did poorly," only for the homeroom teacher to announce loudly the next second that you ranked first in the entire grade.
"See, you still surpassed 5% of people," Yun Li stammered, a bit flustered. "Five percent of the total population is still a huge number."
Fu Shize glanced at her. "You’re quite the optimist."
"……"
Fortunately, Fu Shize was already used to this machine—and had enough self-awareness not to take it personally.After checking the equipment, it was already lunch break. The two pulled the switch in the small room and prepared to leave. Yun Li noticed a classic arcade machine placed at the entrance of the outermost room, with an introduction stating that the VR game inside was adapted from a classic arcade game.
When Yun Li was in elementary school, arcade games were all the rage in West Fuling. After school, she would often sneak off with her classmates to play, promising to play together for a lifetime.
Back then, her pocket money wasn’t much, so she saved up one or two yuan every week. Later, when Yun Ye started elementary school, Yun Li saved her allowance so they could go play together on weekends.
As technology advanced rapidly, Yun Li would still play those games with Yun Ye using a console whenever she returned home. But the friends from back then had long faded into the passage of time.
Seeing Yun Li pause in front of the arcade machine, Fu Shize waited for a moment before asking, “Want to try it?”
Yun Li: “Huh, can we?”
Fu Shize gave an affirmative hum.
Feeling a little embarrassed, Yun Li said, “I used to play this a lot with my classmates when I was little. Arcade games were really popular back then, and I’m familiar with several of them.” Realizing she’d been talking about herself, she asked, “Did you play this when you were a kid?”
“No,” Fu Shize replied.
Yun Li: “Then what did you usually play as a kid?”
Fu Shize: “Mostly played with my nephew.”
Yun Li: “Oh… So what did you and Fu Zhengchu play?”
Fu Shize: “He liked playing house.”
Yun Li: “?”
Fu Shize pulled the switch, revealing a room with over a dozen small motorcycle simulators. He went to the back to remotely activate two of them. They agreed she would take the left one, and Fu Shize the right.
Yun Li operated the screen, selecting ‘2P’ (two players). Next was choosing the relationship between the players, which would likely determine the game’s scenario.
Several options popped up on the screen, and Yun Li froze—only “Parent-Child,” “Spouse,” or “Couple” were available.
Choosing either of the latter two would be too suggestive, so Yun Li decisively selected “Parent-Child.”
Fu Shize: “…”
Unsure how to justify her choice without sounding awkward, Yun Li mumbled, “I think this term describes our relationship more accurately…”
Fu Shize: “…”
He reminded her: “There’s a next page.”
“…”
Yun Li wished she had a pair of high-powered glasses—how had she missed such a large right-click button at the bottom? Since the selection was already locked in, she couldn’t change it and simply clicked to the next page.
The next page asked them to choose which machine the guardian would operate.
Yun Li strongly suspected the game designer was deliberately courting bad reviews—how else could they come up with such an absurd interface?
Resigned, Yun Li set Fu Shize as the father and herself as the daughter.
Fu Shize didn’t say anything, but his gaze seemed to burn through her back, making Yun Li nervous. She awkwardly suggested, “Or maybe I could be the mom, and you could be the…” She couldn’t bring herself to say “son.”
Fu Shize: “…”
Fortunately, the rest of the setup went smoothly. After completing the basic settings, they entered the actual game. The gameplay required them to ride the motorcycles, with motion simulators installed beneath to simulate the driving experience.Yun Li had never worn the equipment before, so once she climbed onto the motorcycle, she wasn’t sure what to do next. Noticing her hesitation, Fu Shize got off and walked over to her side. "It’ll shake quite a bit later," he reminded her.
Leaning down, he tapped a footrest near her shoes with his finger. "Step here."
Yun Li obediently placed her feet on the footrest.
Fu Shize tilted his head slightly and asked, "Should I fasten it for you?"
The phrasing made her blush faintly. Yun Li gave a barely audible "Mhm."
Unlike her first visit to EAW, where fear had dominated her emotions, this time, her gaze lingered on Fu Shize as he secured the strap around her ankle and tightened it. Unconsciously, her eyes drifted upward, settling on his collarbone.
Just as he finished adjusting the device for her, he noticed her fixed stare and glanced up. "Too tight?"
Yun Li flushed. "No."
After securing the safety rope on her other side, Fu Shize returned to his seat. Once both of them put on their VR glasses and entered the game, a motorcycle shop appeared before them.
Yun Li spotted a figure beside her—wearing sunglasses and a fitted athletic outfit—likely Fu Shize’s in-game avatar. After selecting the motorcycle model, he nodded at her.
The game began its countdown.
Wait, didn’t she need to choose a motorcycle too? Yun Li felt puzzled.
But when the game officially started, she realized the issue—
Since they had selected parent-child mode, the system defaulted to having her and Fu Shize ride the same motorcycle.
She sat behind him, his back directly in front of her.
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